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Food Drive
The Pine Bush Area Chamber of Commerce is collecting for the New Prospect Food Pantry...
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Town of Crawford Sign Law
We are looking for input from the Town of Crawford Business Owners and residents.
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Shawangunk Byway
Byway group unveils tourism and preservation plans.
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Festival of Lights Business and Game Sponsors
The Pine Bush Chamber of Commerce would like your participation in this year's Festival of Lights.
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Positions available at the Boys & Girls Clubs
The Boys & Girls Clubs are now hiring for a variety of positions within the organization for the 2010 – 2011 school year.
Our Clubs offer staff the opportunity to work with youth on a daily basis and help our members strive to BE GREAT!
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Around Crawford Book
Fritz Meier has been working on a book about the Town of Crawford titled "Around Crawford". It will be published by Arcadia Publishing and it will be available at the end of March. All of the proceeds from this book will go to the Pine Bush Area Library.
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Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
nilmdts
Remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with the free gift of professional portraiture.
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10 Ways to Reduce Your Summer Utility Bills
Now that the summer heat--and summertime utility bills--are making you sweat, you might want to consider making a few changes to cut your energy consumption.
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Web Site Updates
We are looking for chamber members to submit stories, articles, photos and event information...
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Pine Bush Art Tour
A photo journal of the Pine Bush Chamber of Commerce Art Tour
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Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
Four years ago, one mother and one photographer connected to form a non-profit organization to place professional photographers with families in need of remembrance portraiture. Currently there are approximately 7,000 professional photographers in 25 countries who volunteer their professional photography services to the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation. As a volunteer member of the organization, I would like to share with you how we are helping families in this community of Orange County. When nurses or social workers at Horton or Arden Hill Hospitals, sometimes Westchester call me on behalf of a family, I pack up my gear and head to the hospital. I first offer the family my condolences on their loss or impending loss, and then I get to work, knowing that the images I capture will be their only connection to that child once they have said goodbye. Some of these babies pass away at or near birth due to genetic defects, pregnancy trauma or stillbirth. In other cases, doctors have tried everything they can to help find a cure for whatever ailment the child suffers from, but the hospital calls me when the family has realized all efforts have been exhausted and they will soon be disconnecting life support. In some cases, I am able to capture the last images of this child’s time here on Earth; in other cases, the parents are more interested in seeing their child memorialized eternally at peace, meaning once the child has passed and no cords or IV’s are connected. I wanted to contact you, as a member of the local media, to see if you would be interested in profiling the volunteer work we do as an organization. I would work with you, the hospital, and a family to provide a well-rounded story on NILMDTS so that the public may learn about the good work we do to help so many families. We were profiled on the Today Show (3/5/08) and to view that segment to learn more about how you could locally do a story on how NILMDTS is active in our community, please take a moment to view the segment by going to www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org and clicking on the story which can be found at the “top” of the web site, or in the “In the News” section. I look forward to the opportunity to discuss this with you further. You can reach me at my contact numbers above, and if you are interested in reaching anyone at the organization’s headquarters, that information is at the footer of this page. Additionally, on the second page of this letter, I am including a “fact sheet” from NILMDTS headquarters with current statistics on the program.
Best regards and thank you for your time reviewing this proposal,
Wendy Wellington
Wonder, Simplicity & Beauty In Portraits
www.wsbinportraits.com
Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep
7201 S. Broadway #150
Littleton, CO 80122
877-834-5667
www.nilmdts.org
Mission Statement
To introduce remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with the free gift of professional portraiture. We believe these images serve as an important step in the family’s healing process by honoring their child’s legacy.
A Brief History of the Foundation
When co-founder Cheryl Haggard lost her son in February of 2005, she knew that her family’s healing was going to come by remembering details about Maddux, not by forgetting that he existed. Her husband contacted local photographer and eventual co-founder Sandy Puc’ and requested her services in helping to memorialize young Maddux. Over time, memories fade, but these cherished photographs will last for generations and help show the love that was shared between this young boy and his family, no matter how brief his stay on Earth was. From these beginnings, the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation was born. Today, the organization encompasses approximately 7000 photographers worldwide who volunteer their services by creating sensitive images that will last a lifetime. We have also grown from an all-volunteer status to a small staff whose full responsibility it is to support the wonderful volunteers who make this mission possible. We believe the images of these precious children serve as an important step in the healing process and that this opportunity should be available to all in need regardless of socio-economic status. To this end, our entire network of professional photographers graciously donates their time and talents to this noble service. If you were to assess a dollar value to each session, including the cost of travel to and from the location, execution of the onsite photo shoot, retouching of images, a DVD with a musical slide show and a CD with high-resolution images, it would equal approximately $2,000. Our main web site, www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org has 1,800 to 2,000 unique users per day who visit an average of 16 pages per session. That equals approximately 30,000 page hits per day, or approximately 11 million hits per year.
Current Focus
Our main focus is are the photo sessions for infants from 25 weeks until after birth who have been or will be lost to critical illness or stillbirth. At the family’s request, one of our volunteer photographers comes to the healthcare facility and performs an onsite photo shoot. The photos are then professionally retouched and presented to the family in a DVD slideshow format with music as well as a CD of high resolution images. We provide this service directly to families, thus NILMDTS is not a HIPAA covered entity. While the nurses and social workers are the ones who call us 90% of the time to let us know a family is in this situation and to see if we have a volunteer available, they are simply the “go-between” to inform us there is a need, meaning we are not “vendors” of the hospital, instead we serve as guests of the patient just like Chaplains and Pastors. To offer a supportive place for parents to grieve, we administer a Family Forum on our website, www.nowisleep.com . We have received tremendous approval from parents on the forum for creating a place for families to gather and work through their grief together with others who have experienced similar situations. At this same web site we offer a second forum for photographers to counsel each other through their sessions and provide coaching to new members.
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